Psalms 22:17-31: a reflection

17I can count all of my bones. They look and stare at me. 18They divide my garments among them. They cast lots for my clothing. 19But don’t be far off, LORD. You are my help. Hurry to help me! 20Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog. 21Save me from the lion’s mouth! Yes, you have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen. 22I will declare your name to my brothers. Among the assembly, I will praise you. 23You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, glorify him! Stand in awe of him, all you descendants of Israel! 24For he has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, neither has he hidden his face from him; but when he cried to him, he heard. 25My praise of you comes in the great assembly. I will pay my vows before those who fear him. 26The humble shall eat and be satisfied. They shall praise the LORD who seek after him. Let your hearts live forever. 27All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD. All the relatives of the nations shall worship before you. 28For the kingdom is the LORD’s. He is the ruler over the nations. 29All the rich ones of the earth shall eat and worship. All those who go down to the dust shall bow before him, even he who can’t keep his soul alive. 30Posterity shall serve him. Future generations shall be told about the Lord. 31They shall come and shall declare his righteousness to a people that shall be born, for he has done it.

Psalm 22 begins in deep anguish, the very words Jesus prayed from the cross, and it describes suffering with startling precision: they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing. But in its second half the psalm turns, from suffering toward trust, praise, and hope. And at the heart of the turn is this: He has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him.

Notice that assurance, spoken from the depths of suffering: God has not despised the affliction of the afflicted. It can feel, in affliction, as though God has turned away, as though our suffering is beneath his notice or even his contempt. The psalm insists the opposite: God does not despise the suffering of the afflicted; he does not hide his face; he hears the cry of the one in anguish. Even from the depths, from the very words of the cross, this confidence rises: he hears.

And the psalm goes on to a vast hope: that all the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, that all the families of the nations will worship him. The suffering of the psalm, and of the cross it foreshadows, opens out into worldwide salvation. When you are afflicted and feel God has turned away, hold this psalm's assurance: he has not despised your affliction; he hears when you cry. The God who did not abandon the sufferer of Psalm 22, or the Christ who prayed it, does not despise your suffering either. Cry to him; he hears.

Lord, from the depths of suffering, the psalm Jesus prayed on the cross, comes this assurance: you have not despised the affliction of the afflicted, nor hidden your face, but hear when they cry. When I am afflicted and feel you have turned away, hold me with this truth. You do not despise my suffering or count it beneath your notice; you hear my cry. Thank you that you did not abandon the sufferer of this psalm, or Christ who prayed it, and you will not abandon me. I cry to you; hear me.